A pro-Palestinian demonstrator destroyed a painting of former British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour at Cambridge University. The Daily Mail reported. In the recording, which was also posted on social media, you can see how the perpetrator first sprayed the image with red paint, and then cut it up using a type of cutting tool. The damage appears very serious, and possibly irreparable.
The pro-Palestinian protester may have had a problem with the politician because, as British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1917, he expressed support for the project of a “Jewish national home.” Established in Palestine. The so-called Balfour Declaration, which was carefully worded and not legally binding, is often referred to as the first official document proposing the creation of the subsequent state of Israel. The organization called Palestinian Action, which did this work, also wrote that the British promised the Jews land to which they never had a right.
The British Portal knows that the painting hanging on the wall of Cambridge University is the work of the painter Philip Alexius de Laszlo.
He is none other than Laszlo Fulop Elek Lombosi of Hungarian origin.
The artist was born in the city of Pest in 1869. Under the name Velop LoopHe took the name Laszlo only in 1891, out of patriotic motives. He was one of the greatest painters of his time, known primarily for his portraits of kings, queens, nobility and prominent public figures, but he also painted Hungarian rural life and the sites of his travels. According to her Wikipedia page:
- In 1899, Emperor Franz Joseph sat as his model,
- After the thirteenth year. His portrait of Pope Leo in the Vatican won the Grand Gold Medal at the Paris International Exhibition.
- In 1900, Queen Victoria asked him to paint a portrait of her favorite general, Sir George White,
- This year he also painted members of the German Imperial Family.
He settled in London in 1907, where an exhibition of his work opened at the Arts Society in the same year, and shortly afterwards he received an invitation to paint members of the British royal family. In 1908 he traveled to the United States to paint a portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt, which was later followed by commissions from Presidents Coolidge, Hoover, and Harding.
Cover photo: A protester destroys the photo (Source: Video on Twitter)
